CES 2013

...and after a nice holiday break, the Windows Phone Central Podcast is back!. Join Daniel and Jay as we talk about Portico, CES 2013, what's coming up for Mobile World Congress, some new apps and games. Plus, as always, we take your questions!

Sitting down with Chris Weber, Executive Vice President, Nokia Global Sales and Marketing at Nokia, is always a fun challenge here at Windows Phone Central as we want to ask way more questions than we can get answers too.

Still, we try and it’s clear that Nokia for 2013 have specific goals and messages for their Lumia line..

You know that point when an up and coming operating system starts gaining mainstream developer support? Well it’s happening right now with Windows Phone 8. We’re slowly starting to see big name apps cross the app gap and come to the land of Live Tiles and Lockscreens. GoPro is currently working on supporting Windows Phone 8 to work with their newest line of HERO3 cameras.

Even though Microsoft wasn’t exhibiting at CES this year, doesn’t mean they haven’t been present. From Steven Ballmer taking to the stage at the Qualcomm keynote to some surprise Xbox 360 demos, it’s been busy.

The folks at Computer World caught up with Greg Sullivan. senior product manager for Windows Phone. Seems Greg was eager to share the good news about Windows Phone sales in China and also led some to speculate on a Windows Phone in the pipeline that uses an Intel CPU.

If you have a Lumia 920 or a Verizon branded HTC 8X, you’ll want to check out the MobiRock speaker just announced this week at CES 2013. Since it comes equipped with Qi wireless charging, NFC, Bluetooth and more it should appeal to music lovers and anyone who suffers from wirephobia.

While CES may not feature a ton of Windows Phone news, Windows 8 made quite the impact at the show with Lenovo, Samsung, Acer and others all showing off their new computers for this year. Heck, Corning with their awesome Gorilla Glass booth (more on that in a bit) had a huge Windows 8 computer that was provided by Microsoft.

We’re not sure on the size of it, so we’ll just call it a BFC (if you ever played the game ‘Doom’ you can extrapolate on our meaning there). The display features Corning’s glass on board resulting a very low resistance screen, which is important when you’re swiping all around with those new gestures (and demod by WPC's Sam Sabri in the video).

In short, it was quite fun using Microsoft’s new OS on such a ginormous display and yes, we want one for Windows Phone Central HQ.

Here at CES 2013, Windows Phone news is few and far between (though no worries, we have some stories coming up in the next day or two). We’ve already seen quite a bit of the Huawei Ascend W1 which was informally announced here at the convention.

Today we got a chance to play with some of the other colors besides black for the entry-level phone. The W1, following Nokia and HTC, comes in White, Black (soft-touch), Cyan and Red and we have to admit the color scheme continues to work with those themes on board (there is a “dreamy blue” custom Accent color as well).

Though the 4” device with 1.2Ghz dual core CPUs won’t be for everyone it’s not a bad low-end phone at all (though Windows Phone 8 stutters a tad with 512MB of RAM).

While Sprint has announced they would be adding two Windows Phone 8 devices to their lineup this summer, they were rather vague as to which Windows Phones. Sprint did say HTC and Samsung would be the manufacturers but could it be the HTC 8X and Samsung ATIV S?

Today at CES 2013 Sprint tried to shed a little light on the subject but left us with more questions than answers. Ryan Sullivan, Sprint's Director of Device Delivery, said that the wireless provider will introduce "current" Windows Phone 8 devices. Okay, so what does current mean?

While AT&T is seeing success with Windows Phone sales, Microsoft isn't doing to bad with Windows 8. During the 11th Annual J.P. Morgan Tech Forums at CES 2013, Microsoft announced that they have sold 60 million Windows 8 licenses to date.

According to Windows Chief Marketing Officer and Chief Financial Officer Tami Reller this includes both upgrades and sales to OEMs for new devices. The sales pace is similar to what Microsoft experienced with Windows 7.

As far as Windows 8 apps and games are concerned, growth continues to rise with the number of apps being available quadrupling since launch. As an added bonus, Microsoft recently passed the 100 million app download mark.

The Nokia Purity Pro headphones have been honoured at CES with a prestigious innovations award. The wireless headphones support both NFC and Bluetooth, which makes the accessory perfect for use with Windows Phone hardware. With Monster on-board, Nokia has been able to produce something special for those who enjoy music while on the go and now efforts have been recognised at this year's electronics event.

AT&T announced today that it sold more than ten million smartphones in the fourth quarter of 2012. This surpasses the previous record of 9.4 million set last year.

While AT&T didn't break down the sales figures Ralph de la Vega, president and CEO for AT&T commented,

"During the quarter, we averaged more than 110,000 smartphone sales a day as customers flocked to our leading portfolio of the latest Android, Apple and Windows devices."

de la Vega also commented yesterday at the AT&T Developer Summit at CES 2013 that AT&T sells more Windows Phones than any other carrier in the world. While Android and iPhone sales likely contributed heavily to the 10 million in sales, we suspect that AT&T's Windows Phone lineup wasn't sitting idly by on the sidelines and helped contribute to the record sales figures as well.

Huawei. We’ve heard about them in the past year and the Ascend W1 is probably one of the most interesting-but-not-really-interesting phones we’ve covered. Truth be told, the phone is akin to the Samsung ATIV Odyssey—it’s specs don’t impress the gadget geeks out here but it’s a solid feeling little phone that feels leaps and bound better than some of the LG garbage produced in the Windows Phone 7 days. For that, we’re welcoming Huawei to the fold.

The phone features a 4” WVGA display, dual core 1.2 GHz CPU, 512MB of RAM and a 5MP rear shoot (with a 0.3 MP front facing cam). The body has a soft-touch paint feel to it which gives it a smooth, soft texture that’s quite nice too hold. While the phone is very square it doesn’t feel odd at all seeing as the 4” display keeps things in check when holding it one handed.

Will the Ascend W1 set the world afire? Hardly. But for emerging markets and for those who just want Windows Phone on a budget, we okay with this device taking the reins. Look for the W1 in the coming weeks.

CES hasn’t even “officially” started, but news is rolling in. Earlier today Huawei had their press conference where we were hoping to learn more about and get some play time with their upcoming Windows Phone 8 handset the W1. Well, that press conference was all Android, but we’re still expecting to get to see the W1 on the CES showroom floor tomorrow. We’ll be sure to get hands on and pictures galore for all you. What is interesting from the Huawei camp is a possible 6.1-inch Windows Phone 8 device.

Howdy, folks! This is a rather special From the Forums as the Windows Phone Central team is currently at CES 2013 absorbing as much related technology news as possible from the booths and shows on the floor. Be sure to stay tuned to our feeds and main website for all the headlines that will trickle out from the event. So that's the main site, but what's been happening on our forum?

With most of the Mobile Nations team having arrived now in Las Vegas for CES there was no better time to get together for a video. Straying away from standard Monday Brief format, I managed to wrangle everyone into a room to find out their thoughts and expectations for CES 2013. You'll want to stay tuned to all the Mobile Nations sites for up to the minute coverage but for now, check out the video! Looking for WPCentral CES 2013 news? You'll find it all here.

We’re here at the AT&T Developer Summit going on right now at CES 2013 where traditionally AT&T would reveal new devices to their lineup (even if just small additions). Unfortunately so far, that does not seem to be the case as they’re just teasing with “you haven’t seen anything yet” for new 2013 phones. That means they’re probably holding off until Mobile World Congress or CTIA in a few weeks...

We are less than 48 hours away from CES 2013 officially kicking off. In the past anticipation was high for new gadgets when CES was on the horizon. However, this year is a little different for the Windows Phone camp. Last year at CES we got our first look at the Lumia 900, but this year Microsoft will have a significantly smaller presence than it has had in the past, same goes for Nokia. We also aren't really expecting new hardware Windows Phone hardware from HTC or Samsung. So what then can you look forward to?

Kevin, Phil, Daniel, and Rene talk about CES 2013, what they expect to see, and whether it's still relevant, then fight about ActiveSync, RIM vs. Microsoft, and what they want to see from Apple, Google, and everyone going forward! *Apologies for the video quality, we experienced severe technical problems during the recording of the show, and while we're providing it for those who really want it, we recommend sticking to audio for this episode.*